113. Speed of Light

(24/150... Do you guys prefer only 3 chapters from now on? 🫠 I was excited to write the latest arc on pateron...)

Chapter 32 : Distorted Reality

The squad burst into the kitchen, their senses assaulted by a cacophony of noise. A young girl, face ashen, lay sprawled on the floor, a discarded chef's apron draped over her. A tea kettle, still steaming, lay overturned beside her, and a large, dark stain marred the wall.

"Ino!" Shikamaru exclaimed, his voice filled with urgency. Ino, her fingers pressed to her forehead, activated her maximum sensing range. Sora followed suit, though his range was less compared to Ino, so he was doing it to double-check.

Ino shook her head, a grim expression settling on Shikamaru's face.It had taken them mere seconds to reach the kitchen, yet the perpetrator had vanished into thin air.

This indicated either a mastery of space-time techniques or exceptional speed, probably an Elite Jounin specializing in speed, a troubling prospect. Shikamaru dismissed the possibility of genjutsu, as the tea was still hot, suggesting it had been freshly prepared, but it was still on the back of his mind.

"Let's spread out and search the hotel," Shikamaru suggested. "This thief is likely skilled at concealing their chakra."As they were about to disperse, Shikamaru noticed Sora staring intently at the wall.

Sora threw a scroll which Shikmaru caught on instinct. Shikamaru recognized the map of the Land of Hot Springs. With his mind processing details at a very fast speed, Comparing the map to the scene before him, Shikamaru realized the mountains were marked quite instantly.

"All the mountains are marked on this map," Shikamaru announced, drawing the others' attention. "Wait, aren't these three mountains circled?" Ino pointed out."Kageguchi, Hikari no Sekai, and Misty Mountain," Choji listed the names. Ino explained their meanings: shadow mountain, light realm, and the place where they encountered the old lady ghost.

The other mountains were Kumori, Kanashimi no Ryoiki, and Tazura no Yama."Kumori means Hazy, Kanashimi no Ryoki seems to be related to Sadness and Tazura no Yama literally means Prank mountain" Ino finished explaining. "Do we really need to choose just one mountain?" Choji asked, munching on a bag of chips.

Before Shikamaru could respond, Sora summoned a marker and connected the circled mountains on the map. He then wrote numbers and translated them into letters, some decoding logic in play, revealing the message: "One chance!"

"I didn't expect you to notice," Shikamaru admitted, surprised. Ino and Choji's eyes widened. Their teammates were clearly operating on a different wavelength.

"We can only choose one if we're playing this spirit's game," Sora said nonchalantly, his lack of fear surprising Ino and Choji."Are you not scared?" Ino asked."Not really, Onee-chan," Sora replied, feigning bravery.

Before Ino could comfort him, Shikamaru intervened. "Save it, he's not scared. This was all a scheme to get us to pay for his food."Wait, what do you mean?" Choji asked, confused.

"Woah! You noticed, I thought so. As expected of senpai," Sora said, winking. Choji and Ino were stunned mouths gaping. They hadn't anticipated the scheme, nor did Shikamaru know about it and play along with Sora from the beginning.

"Close your mouth, flies will go in. Let's first decide what to do with this map," Shikamaru said, urging the others to focus. "It seems time-limited."

"Maybe the prank mountain is where he's hiding, as he likes to prank according to the lore" Choji suggested.

"Or it could be Kageguchi, as this might be a double bluff as the spirit seems to be related to Shadows" Ino argued.

"If you guys are playing this game it could be triple bluff Kumori or Hikari, the former related to haziness and the latter directly reverse of spirit's personality" Shikamaru added which was a sound argument.

"What do you think, Sora?" Shikamaru asked. "You're a prankster, you should know how a trickster thinks, right?"

"Hehe, you guys think too much," Sora replied. "A prankster makes people unaware of what hit them until the end."With that, the wooden floor beneath them sealed itself within Sora's bracers, causing them to plummet towards the unknown ground which seemed to be empty.

"What!" Ino screamed. Choji panicked, his eating momentarily interrupted. Shikamaru, however, remained calm, his fingers forming his usual thinking position.

Sora used a wind jutsu to slow his descent and landed gently. He did the same for the others. "Brace yourselves," he said, firing a gale palm jutsu to halt their momentum.

"I thought I was going to die," Ino and Choji exclaimed. Shikamaru brushed the dust off his clothes."This place feels attuned to shadows," Shikamaru said, recognizing the familiar effect.

"Maybe the rumour about the shadow-related thief is true."

"I don't think it's just shadows. I feel all kinds of natures," Sora said, puzzled. "It's like everything is present, yet nothing.

"Suddenly, the dark surroundings were replaced by a blinding light."Uhh, the light is killing me," Sora said, summoning sunglasses.

"Damn, that's too many seals on that," Shikamaru observed.

"Hehe, I need to be prepared for all kinds of environments," Sora replied, distributing sunglasses to the others.

"Let's see, these babies could also detect other types of wavelengths of light," Sora said, adjusting the glasses to a different frequency, changing the light background to something else differently.

"Wait, is that a sheep?" Choji asked"It's a flock of sheep," Ino said they saw a flock of sheep, then a wolf attacking one. Sora threw a kunai, however, surprisingly it went at high speeds such that it got deformed and disappeared before reaching the wolf.

The wolf successfully kills the first sheep."Wait, no!" Ino exclaimed, but Shikamaru grabbed her hand."What is -" Ino stopped, seeing Shikamaru's panicked expression, which was so out of place on Shikamaru.

"Sora!" Shikamaru shouted."Okay, I have adjusted the glasses," Sora said. "You will see a circle with me on the circumference."

The others nodded. "Actually, let me change it to a different shape... now every one of you has a circle, or more like a bounded structure near your foot, under no circumstances, are you allowed to leave it," Sora said with a blank tone, it seemed like he was reciting something

.It was very bizarre to see him who is full of emotions, act like this, this only increased the seriousness of the situation.

The others nodded quickly."What is happening?" Ino asked after a few seconds, seeing Sora and Shikamaru looking at the wolf who was mercilessly slaughtering the flock of sheep.

However, neither of the two answered, Shikamaru looked at Sora who summoned another kunai and sent it in the same direction, he threw it before, but now the kunai seemed like it was floating at one point and not moving, still at a place.

"Is that kunai levitating?" Choji asked. He stopped eating when he saw the unusual behaviour of the other two, Sora summoned a scroll carefully opened it and then waited for a few seconds.

"This kunai is actually moving" Sora said

"Wait, What do you mean moving?" Ino asked she looked at Shikamaru, but he was currently in his thinking position

She looked at Sora, "What is exactly happening?"Sora gulped, but his face was still blank, started speaking like he was saying from a script "We are trapped in this place, the entry hole has disappeared"

Ino, who was attuned to emotions could tell that Sora was suppressing his emotions forcefully at the moment with surprising skill. If she had not practised mind-related techniques, she would have thought that Sora had been changed somehow.

"Okay, how does that relate to what happened to the kunai?" Ino asked slowly, not panicking about their exit disappearing.

"The first kunai went at the speed of light and disappeared in a wormhole," Shikamaru said before Sora could say anything.

"Huh"

"The second kunai is actually moving at an infinitely very slow speed, but it's still moving," Shikamaru continued.

If somebody said to Ino now that Sasuke is gonna marry Sakura in the future, for a moment she would choose to believe this than what Shikamaru was saying.

"Are you sure Shikamaru?" Choji asked, not understanding what was happening.

"5" Sora said suddenly. "4" Sora continued.

"Everyone, brace yourselves, something weird is gonna happen now" Shikamaru warned.

"3" Choji and Ino tensed their guard to the maximum, due to the sheer uncertainty of the situation and the ominous warning.

***

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